Well Done Max

Max Drury, Conservative Candidate in the Curzon & Westminster by-election was duly elected with a commanding majority. Max polled 875 votes, the Lib Dems 258 and Labour 238.

The other parties criticised the fact that a by-election was called, saying that the previous Councillor should have waited until next May, thus avoiding the cost of a by-election. That just goes to show their comtempt for democracy and their lack of concern for residents. The Conservatives believed that the priority was to ensure the residents of Curzon & Westminster were fully represented in the Council Chamber, by a Member whose heart and soul was in the job. This could only have been achieved by having a by-election, and so it was absolutely right to have called one.

Now that Max has been selected, the residents have a dedicated and enthusiastic Councillor, which is what local politics is about.

So well done Max, and I know you will do the residents of your Ward proud.

Smoking

Have I missed a point with the government's proposals to ban smoking in public places. Does any ban not aim to protect the health of non-smokers from the dangers of passive smoking? Well the government are now saying that the ban will only apply to pubs that serve food.

Does this mean that the danger from passive smoking is only caused if you eat food with smoke particles on it?

Or is this just more confusion from a confused government?

Education - by Tory Blair

"Schools opting out of LEA control is paralysing the sensible planning of school provision, wasting money and undermining education opportunities for a great many young people" said Jack Straw in 1989. Therefore, when Blair first came to power in 1997 one of his first actions was to abolish grant maintained schools in defiance of parents who had voted to allow them to opt out of LEA control.

A core Labour principle has long been that selection in education is wrong and that comprehensive eduation is the fairest system.

Core Conservative principles beleive that education by selection is right as it encourages everyone to excel in what they are good at and we beleive that schools achieve higher standards if they are freed from LEA financial control.

Now, 8 years after destroying any form of independence in the state education system, Blair has said that he wants every state school to quickly become a self-governing independent school, and promised 'more power and choice for parents.'

In Parliament, the Conservatives cheered as Ruth Kelly announced the plans, whilst the Labour benches were silent. The Conservatives have said we will do all we can to help the government implement these plans. Well we would - these plans are straight out of the Conservative manifesto.

So thank you Tory Blair for seeing sense at last, even if it is after 8 wasted years where every school, every teacher, every parent and every pupil has suffered.

Cameron or Davis?

Well we have just heard that the result of the MPs vote was Cameron 90, Davis 57 and Fox 51, so Liam Fox is out of the leadership race. I got it wrong!

I have already been asked who I now endorse. Well let me answer that by explaining why I supported Liam. He had set out his campaign based on policies and beliefs and not just image, and politics needs to once again focus on policy. I share Liam's desire to increase prosperity and entrepreneuship and have a true Conservative commitment to wealth creation, believing that is the best way to sustainable economic growth. Globally, Britain should be a leading country in the world, and should not be constrained by an out-dated, inefficient, monolithic European Union. We need to be a member state of Europe, but not a member of a state called Europe. We should also build our relationship with America and not take the anti-Atlanticist stance, which is a French stance. I believe also that in the 1980's the Conservatives saved the country from economic bankruptcy - now the task is to save us from Social bankruptcy. Liam laid out his views on Britain's broken society, a society where violent crime is at record levels, teenage pregnancies are at an all time high, fear of crime is high, drugs are as widely available on street corners and respect is non-existent. The mentally ill are poorly looked after by the state, and there are more places in London for abandoned animals than there are for homeless women. These social policies are not right wing, but are compassionate Conservatism, so not everything about Liam is right wing.

So that is an outline of why I support Liam - his views are most closely aligned to mine.

As for who I support now - that has got to be the candidate that has the closest fit to the policy agenda I have just outlined. Of course, this needs to be balanced with level of atractivenss to the electorate, because, like it or not, image is now important.

From what I have heard and seen so far, David Cameron is most likely to get my support.

MPs see sense. Come on LIAM

Last night the Conservative MPs knocked Ken Clarke out of the leadership contest. I respect Mr Clarke's political experience, but have always thought him the least likely candidate to attract the floating voters. So I think our MPs made the right choice. As I mentioned in my BLOG of 6th October, I believe Liam Fox has youth and experience on his side, and in my view will make not just an excellent leader of the Party, but an excellent Prime Minister. So my prediction, a Davis Fox final, with Fox the winner. Here's hoping.

Satanic worship in prisons ?????

Two weeks ago, prison wardens were banned from wearing tiepins bearing the cross of St George as they might be considered racist, and therefore offensive. That is political correctness gone mad, you may think – well it gets worse. It beggars belief that the same wardens have been instructed to allow prisoners the right to practice paganism and witchcraft in their cells. And which bit of that is not offensive. So law abiding citizens can’t show commitment to our Patron Saint, but criminals can show commitment to Satan. This has naively been done in the name of equality for all religions – does the government not realise that Satanism and witchcraft are not religions, but are quite the opposite. Shouldn’t prisoners, as part of their rehabilitation, be steered away from such occults?

ID Cards - Loyalty Cards

Today The House of Commons debates the third reading of the ID cards Bill, and thankfully, the Conservatives will be opposing this.

Initially we were told that the scheme would cost £3bn: on the government's track record, that means at least £30bn. But more importantly, I question how ID cards will stop the threat of terrorism; illegal immigration and crime. Are fundamentalists going to stop blowing up trains because they won't have an ID card? Of course not. But how many extra police and border control police could we get for £30bn, or even £3bn. Enough to seriously cut crime, immigration and the terorrist threat I would have thought.

During the general election, Chester's Labour MP said ID cards are no different to store loyalty cards!!!! Stop laughing, it's true, she did.

Well are they the same?

• loyalty cards don't cost £85 - ID cards will cost at least this.
• you won't be fined £1000 or even thrown in jail if you don't have a loyalty card - you will for not having an ID card.
• it will never be compulsory to have a loyalty card - yet the government will not rule out making ID cards compulosry in the future.
• you don't have to have your finger prints taken or your iris scanned to get a loyalty card - you will have to for an ID card.
• you local store will protect the information they hold on you - no one trusts the government's intentions on what data they will collect, and how they will use it.

So there is every difference, and to think that there are Labour MPs voting in favour of the ID Card Bill based on their assumption that they are the same as a Tesco loyalty card.

Scary.

European Madness

Surely it is right to say that for citizens to have full rights within socitey, they have to act as law abiding citizens. Failure to do so must result in a punishmnet which includes a loss of certain civil liberties, depending on the severity of the crime.

I therefore utterly despair that the European judges has said it is wrong for the British Government to ban convicted criminals from having the rigth to vote. No wonder this country is becoming more and more Eurosceptical. This is a panel of European judges over-ruling a 1000 year old law - and in the name of rights and civil liberties.

How long is it going to be before we are told that putting criminals in prison is infringing on their liberties and rights.

In the General Election I said, "I believe that if someone commits a crime, they start to forfeit their rights." and I stand by that.

This European ruling is great for the Liberals, but a kick in the teeth to victims and law abiding citizens. We should have to earn our right to vote by staying on the right side of the law and being honourable citizens.

Democracy at its best

Well I have just attended the Party's conference at Blackpool, and can honestly say that the media's speculation that the conference would become a fighting ground between the leadership candidates had no substance. We have seen the 5 candidates each make their pitch with speeches and openly campaign support from party members. At no time did I hear any candidate criticise another candidate, and the campaign teams operated side-by-side . The leadership issue helped make the conference a huge success, and we ably demonstsrated our commitment to and belief in the democratic process. What a contrast to Labour's performance at their conference. On Monday I was delieghted to publicy give my support to Liam Fox by appending my name next to a letter in the Daily Telegraph. Liam did a stirling job as party Chairman and demonstrated his ability to work tirelesssly hard. (He visited 300 constituencies during his time as Chairman). He is young, yet has experience as a politican. He is deeply passionate about Britain and beleives we should NOT become a part of a United States of Europe. He has been told that he is racist because he has said that he wants to see a Union Jack flying outside every school. How can that be reacist? It isn't - it is being proud of our country. So let's hope that on December 6th we have Liam Fox as the new leader of the Conservative Party.

Is there any difference between the two main political Parties?

Is there any difference between the two main political Parties?

That is a question that I am often asked, including today during a street surgery outside Kingsway shops. I can give an answer that very clearly sets out the differences, but I hope the differences are becoming more apparent.

As a politician, and not as a Conservative, I was appalled and ashamed when the world was shown how Labour not just runs the country, but runs its own Party. Labour showed the world that it has abandoned democracy. When an 82 year-old man gets forcefully evicted for accusing a Minister of talking ‘nonsense’, and is then held under anti terrorism laws, the words Zimbabwe and Robert Mugabe spring to mind. Can that really have happened in 21st Century Britain by its own government? Well it did, and we cannot be given a clearer demonstration of Labour’s total contempt and disregard for democratic free speech. The country is run their way, and don’t you dare say anything against it.

But are we rapidly becoming a National Socialist state?

We are now in a position where there are 5.85 million people working for the state, that’s nearly one in four workers. (Is it any wonder why the trade gap, the difference between how much we import and export, has negatively widened year-on-year since Labour came to power.) We are no longer a nation that encourages industry and entrepreneurship, with manufacturing declining as more and more companies move their operations abroad. With an increasing proportion of the workforce working for the government, it is obvious why we have to pay an ever increasing amount of tax. But Gordon Brown told us that he would cut the number of public sector employees. Has he? No, apart from cutting 8,000 jobs from the military, the one arm of the public sector that most needs investment, not cuts. So how will he reduce spending? He won’t. Under Labour the government, or the state, will continue to employ more people and our tax will continue to rise to pay for it. As the government increases its grip on the country, we increasingly become the servants of the government. So are we becoming a National Socialist state? The facts speak for themselves: Yes we are and that cannot be denied.

Conservatism fundamentally believes in free markets and minimal state control. We believe that low tax economies are the strongest economies. We believe in encouraging and not hindering businesses and entrepreneurship. We believe communities should be run by local people, not government quangos.

In a nut shell, we believe that government should be the servant of the people.
So to the gentleman who asked me this morning, the answer is: Conservatives and Labour are as different today as they ever have been.

Next week at our Party conference we will be hearing lots about how we as a Party need to change to win the next election and form the next government. That may be true, as long as we don’t abandon our core Conservative principles because it is those that make us different to Labour. Labour may appear to be conservatives (with a small c) on the outside, but they are still socialists, and National Socialists on the inside.

And a final question? Do I think we are wrong to have spent the last few months debating the leadership ‘contest’? Of course not. We have had a full and open debate followed by a democratic vote about how we will choose a leader. Now we will have a similar debate and vote to decide who becomes the leader. We are being openly democratic. From what we saw at the Labour conference, only Labour would think that to be wrong.

Street Surgery in Newton St Michael's

Politics is at its best when you are in the heart of a community trying to make a difference to people's lives.

Marigold Roy (Our Newton St Michael's Team Leader) and I did a street surgery today, and despite the cold, we were genuinely inundated with people coming to us to raise their issues and concerns. Others just wanted to thank us for the work we have done opposing mobile phone masts in the area.

It is worrying though that in 2 hours we were told about the concerns of drug dealing in the area, garden walls being knocked down, graffiti, vandalism, dirty streets, pensioners too afraid to go out - to name but a few issues.

Cleraly the politicians in power at the moment are failing - All the more reason for a change and for people to vote Conservative.